Re: all the hoopla about Kate Middleton’s breasts – I have a hard time not wanting to tell the queen that her inner circle have decided to live a titch on her royally annoyed edge. If you are one of the most photographed people on earth and are married to a man who’s mother died while ditching photographers (and for being with a man who was not white, royals took care of that little issue in a discreet way, blame the press), than do as you will and see your breasts in magazines. If Harry can handle the penis in Vegas heat, so can she. They seem to be showing that they want to do what they want to do without so much restriction. Her privacy was given away at a wedding, so much for that…I’m sure that photog got paid royally for that pic and as long they do they will continue to do it.

Re: Queen Ann, she’s trying to sound like she’s ‘above it all’ when in reality she is ‘it all’ and any attempt at bolstering her hubby’s know how for handling this country or downplaying their enormous wealth and apparent disdain with 99%ers (at least 47% of the votes they don’t have or won’t have) is very transparent.

Lance, I state the same argument when a repug woman says it’s about the economy, if the economy is good, even great, but your personal rights as a female is decided and legistlated by men, that’s ok with you? It’s not ok with me.

I overheard a man say that he can’t vote for repug bc the minute you start telling women what to do, you now open the door to what else they’ll try to control for women and everyone, if eliminating abortion as a personal choice for women is allowed, they’ll be no stopping what they control them with next, and then what else to control everyone bc clearly if we allow this major thing to be voted on, we can start voting on all of everyone’s rights…and they will all be stacked to benefit 1% of the people. – Cheers to that, I sure hope more men feel that way.

Luv, Zen Lill

Since tomorrow is the first day of autumn, the summer heat will soon be far behind us.

On a dreary day when there’s a chill in the air, turning on your car’s seat heater will probably make you feel nice and toasty. But did you know that it may be toasting your skin—literally?

The heat from seat heaters can cause a rash called erythema ab igne (Latin for “redness from fire”). If that mouthful is a little hard to remember, I bet you won’t forget what doctors call it—toasted skin syndrome (TSS).

One example:
Researchers recently reported on a woman who used her seat warmer an hour a day for four months and ended up with a persistent, itchy, weblike red rash on the backs of her thighs—toasted skin.

This is not necessarily a mild rash, and if someone with toasted skin syndrome continues using a seat heater, it’s possible for the skin discoloration to become permanent and for open sores to develop at the site of the rash. Just from getting comfy in the car!

HOW THE RASH SNEAKS UP ON YOU

I called the article’s author, Eliot Mostow, MD, MPH, head of dermatology at Northeast Ohio University College of Medicine in Rootstown. The truth is, there hasn’t been much research done on this topic, but Dr. Mostow shared what we know so far.

First, I asked him how long or how frequently you have to sit on a heated car seat for TSS to occur. It depends, he said, on several factors—how hot the seat gets and whether it stays that hot constantly or, as some do, automatically cycles on and off…
where the hottest part of the seat happens to contact your back, legs and buttocks…
how much you weigh (which affects how hard your skin presses against the heat)…and whether your clothing insulates you from some of the heat.

If several of those factors conspire against you, Dr. Mostow said, it’s possible to develop TSS after several weeks or months of regular use.

How long TSS lasts also varies. In extreme cases, it may never completely fade away, but here’s one clue: Four months after discontinuing use of the seat warmer, the patient in the study had only a 50% improvement—meaning, in this case, TSS could take at least eight months to disappear.

So how can a seat warmer make your skin look like Spiderman’s mask? Dr. Mostow said that the lacey pattern of toasted skin outlines the blood vessels underneath the skin, and he thinks that the redness and itchiness might have to do with the prolonged dilation of those vessels.

Then I asked about symptoms. Dr. Mostow told me that one major problem with TSS is that you don’t feel it at first—and since it usually occurs on the backs of your legs, your buttocks, and/or your back, you’re not likely to spot it in the mirror, either.

What does it look like? It starts out as a red netlike discoloration and then it turns brownish. Sometimes the skin itches, too. And while some people with severe cases feel burning pain, often there are no symptoms at all. But there’s no one-size-fits-all description, said Dr. Mostow, because your genetics and your skin thickness play a role in how your skin reacts to heat. If you have dark skin, he added, it’s harder to notice the rash early, so you should be extra vigilant.

TREAT IT AND BEAT IT

The best way to look for TSS, said Dr. Mostow, is to keep an eye on the skin on the back of your legs. (If you need help, grab a hand mirror or ask someone to look for you.) If you notice TSS, Dr. Mostow advises you to…

Stop using your seat heater altogether—or at least turn it off after it warms up or minimize how long you use it.

Use a skin moisturizer (especially after you bathe, so your skin will absorb moisture better), because dry skin is more easily irritated. Reapply whenever the skin feels dry again.

Take a picture to document your condition and then make an appointment with your primary care doctor or dermatologist (and bring your photo) for further examination.

To help prevent the problem in the future, turn off the seat heater whenever your skin feels uncomfortably hot and check the backs of your legs, your back and your buttocks every few days.

Source: Eliot N. Mostow, MD, MPH, head of the dermatology section, departments of internal medicine and dermatology, Northeast Ohio University College of Medicine, Rootstown. The report was published in Archives of Dermatology.

To those not being discriminated against it is easy to focus on “it’s the economy stupid.” But if the political party that you help elect promises to keep you from enjoying equality with the rest of the people it governs, what does it matter to you that those enjoying privileges you are being denied will get the kind of economy they desire.

Those people working to elect that party obviously don’t care that you cannot enjoy the basic freedoms and privileges they take for granted. Equality in every day life is more important to me than how much additional money I have in my pocket.

Especially since logic would dictate that if I cannot avail myself of the same benefits that the extra money would purchase for me that it would purchase for those more “entitled,” what have I really gained?

That is what seems to escape those that are so rabid about the republican party. They cannot, or more precisely will not, see pass the preferential treatment their white skins have entitled them to since the birth of this nation.

We, non straight whites, females, and the OTWs are supposed to suspend our knowledge of the fact that they are the privileged ones and just take up their political causes.

Our political desire to be treated equally in our own country is of no concern to them. We are disdainfully addressed as minorities playing the gay, race or female card.

Therefore I am of the opinion of those wise muslim women who write in to your blog Michelle and say fuck our men’s desire for a political solution to their liking, they are not concern with our lack of our political, social, or financial equality. We will still be treated as herd animals, to be controlled until we are needed for baby making or sexual pleasure or exploration.

Lance

The country that enslaved us for three years during WWII has returned with an army. The one that liberated us from their three years of terror.
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PNC was invited to a press conference today where we were brought out 30 miles northeast of Guam to the USS Bonhomme Richard by way of CHC helicopters.

Local media were not the only ones invited, various Japanese and other Asian media representatives were also part of the tour. Asked whether the exercises were in preparation for the planned realignment of US troops from Okinawa to Guam, Commodore of Amphibious Assault Capt. Cathal O’Connor says it is not.

“I have lived in Okinawa know the ranges, know the people there … we’re not worried. We come here and it’s very different, the environmen, the restrictions are different,” said O’Connor.

He adds that although this is the first time the American and Japanese troops are conducting these exercises within the Guam vicinity, it’s not the first time the countries’ militaries are training alongside each other.

The USS Bonhomme Richard, along with the 31st Wing MEU began its CERTEX or Certification Exercise while on deployment earlier this month. The exercise is required to determine whether the two are capable of doing certain missions such as humanitarian assistance or disaster relief operations.
“US Navy, US Marine Corp and the Japanese Ground Self Defense [is here to] certify or to evaluate ground self defense force. In fact it’s us training a mission in a joint and a combined environment, we want to participate because we have such close relationships,” said 31st MEU Commanding Officer Col. John E. Merna.

The USS Bonhomme Richard will be docking on Guam next Wednesday, the 26th and will depart on Saturday the 29th.
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I wonder what the real reason is. This one is too convenient.

Peter

You have made no attempt to deny that you prefer President Obama over Romney. Yet, you do not screen or edit the comments of those who wish to post an opposite opinion or viewpoint.

99% of the other blogs in America do censure the comments coming into their blogs. They use high sounding phrases to excuse their censorship, but it is self-serving censorship all the same.

Some people post objections to your non censorship. They claim that you allow too much vitriol, or profanity, or racism, or bigotry, etc, etc. However, like certain religious groups who applaud the separation of “Church and State separation” in your Constitution, but they want government intervention to include laws to enforce the moral pronouncements of their particular religion, that claim is insincere.

China being mostly a state opined non religious country, it is easy for me to see how religion is used by some to get approved what logic would lead the people to oppose.

My point is that those who write in to complain that you implore some form of censorship actually want you to impose censorship based on their morals and or beliefs on how you select what is appropriate.

If I may speak for us foreigners that have found a place to go, to hear real Americans expose their true feelings and beliefs uncensored about the world and all its happenings, I would implore you to remain undaunted. Allow your blog to continue to operate as it does.

There is also the added value that Americans get to hear how we non-Americans view them uncensored.

渭詞